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The Countdown Begins

With less than two months to go it may be a surprise I hadn’t bought my plane ticket yet. The study abroad office at my university had advised me not to until I received my “official acceptance” from the University of Groningen, which I still have yet to receive. It’s been a few weeks since they got all of my paperwork, but since then they have sent me the forms to apply for my residence permit and added me to their exchange group on Facebook. So although it may not technically be official, I think it’s safe to say I am in the clear. I booked my flight through Student Universe, which is similar to Expedia/Travelocity/Kayak. I chose this website because they offer deals specific to students and had a Cyber Monday deal today that got me $50 off of my ticket. I was able to buy my flight for almost $200 less than anticipated which evens out the $200 it is going to cost me to get my luggage back and forth. Such a blessing! I leave Monday, January 27th and arrive in Amsterdam Tuesday morning, then return Thursday June 26th. This will get me to Groningen in time for international student orientation which is on Wednesday.

I sent out my application for my residence permit last week. The international student desk at the University of Groningen applies for these for their students, so my job was to fill out the paperwork, mail it to them, and wire them the permit fee. They could only take the forms by mail, so I did indeed have to mail it all to The Netherlands. Then I did my second international wire to get them the €300 residence permit fee, I must say if I never have to do another international wire again it will be too soon. They are expensive and quite the pain in the rear.

As far as fundraising goes I don’t have any updating to do at this time. I’m working on a fundraising project at the moment but it isn’t set in stone that I will be able to do it. Once I have more information I will update and let everyone know what I’m working on!

“It’s good to have an end to journey toward, but it’s the journey that matters in the end.” -Ernest Hemmingway